thanks for coming in. good to have you here. >> good to be with you. >> is there any reason that i or we the american people can have any optimism this is going to get done before the end of the year? there's not a lot of time left and a lot to deal with. >> yes, there is reason for optimism. there is a combustable risks. but there is opportunities here. with respect to across the board cuts, i think there's a decent chance congress could come up with an alternative way to reduce the deficit over a period of time so you don't have these slashing cuts. you'd have to replace those savings with other savings but that's doable. the tax piece is more complicated. you've heard the president make the point that he wants to immediately extend tax relief to 98% of american people. 100% of the american people would get tax relief on the first $250,000 of their income. on income above that, we should have people go back to the rates during the clinton administration. and the last time we balanced our budget. >> both